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Concept
Muhammad Toha
Summary
Muhammad Toha (1927 – 11 July 1946) was an Indonesian revolutionary and war hero, celebrated as a martyr in Indonesia for his act of self-sacrifice in Bandung during the Indonesian National Revolution.
Muhammad Toha was born in Jalan Banceuy, Suniaraja village, Bandung in 1927. His father and mother, Suganda and Nariah respectively, both came from Kedunghalang, Bogor. Toha was orphaned in 1929 when his father died and his mother remarried. After his mother divorced her second husband, Toha was taken in by his grandparents on his father's side. Toha began attending school at the age of seven, and continued his studies until the outbreak of World War II.
During the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies, Toha joined Seinendan, a paramilitary group organised by the Imperial Japanese Army to train Indonesian youth in hopes of creating a local collaborator army. Toha spent most of his time helping his grandfather in the district of Sunda, and working in a motor shop in Cikudapateuh. The Japanese army later employed Toha as a car mechanic in a military vehicle workshop, where he learned to speak Japanese.
After Indonesia declared its independence on 17 August 1945, Toha was enlisted into Barisan Rakjat Indonesia (BRI), an Indonesian revolutionary militia led by Toha's uncle, Ben Alamsyah. Toha was promoted to commanding officer of Unit I of the BRI around the end of 1945.
After the surrender of Japan on 15 August 1945, Japan promised to return Indonesia to the Netherlands under the administration of the Dutch East Indies. Fighting broke out between newly arrived Allied forces attempting to reestablish Dutch rule and Indonesian republicans and soldiers following World War II.
In Bandung, the Allies issued an ultimatum to Indonesian troops, demanding that they disarm and hand over their weapons to the Allies. The Indonesians refused, and withdrew from the southern half of the city to avoid civilian casualties. Civilians were evacuated by the Indonesian Army, and the southern half of Bandung was razed in an event known as the Bandung Sea of Fire.
Official source
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